what_if_doctor_who_wasnt_axedfandomcom-20200214-history
Season 41 (Doctor Who)
'''Season 41 '''aired between the 5th June 2004 and 24th July 2004. It contained eight ninety-minute episodes. It was the third season with Russell T Davies as Script Editor, first to be produced by Tony Redston and to feature Anthony Head as The Doctor, as well as the first part of the 'Gallifrey Arc' and Chapter Three. Overview Rough plans When Tony Redston was cast as new producer in early 2003, he met up with his predecessor Chris Sanderman and script editor, Russell T Davies during production of the 40th anniversary movie to help set up his first series. Starting with the basic outlines they had made since late 2002, Redston slowly developed these plans that the entire season would consist of the Doctor being locked down to one place and one time. This was vaguely similar to what happened in the early Pertwee years. The main difference was that Pertwee was locked down to Earth, while the new Doctor would not only be locked down to his home planet Gallifrey, but is also forced to serve as Lord President by the Keeper. Redston wanted to make these changes for two main reasons. Firstly, to increase the possibility of a whole season serialisation (one story spanning across a number of episodes) and to give the show a much needed reboot, as many fans including Redston felt that the show had started to become stale and dull since the early Sanderman era. A new format The season introduced a brand new format of 8x90 episodes, making it a total runtime of 720 minutes (12 hours) which was less than the 32x30 format that was introduced in 1996. Fans argued that the introduction of the latter format was part of the reason why Doctor Who declined in popularity, as it was on too reguarly. The new format was considered a gamble by Redston as the BBC weren't too sure on the idea of viewers watching Doctor Who for 90 minutes every Saturday evening for eight weeks. To avoid backlash, it was eventually decided to change the format, still 12 hours long, for syndication and repeat releases with 16x45 episodes. New executive producers Shortly after production was complete on the movie, Paramount Television (co-producers of the show with BBC Wales since 1998) wanted to have a more larger role instead of just distributing and funding like they did since starting involvement with Who. They decided to allow some of their people to work on their show. On board from Paramount was former Star Trek: Deep Space Nine executive producer, Ira Steven Behr to work on the same role for Doctor Who. Inspired by this, BBC Wales also placed an executive producer of their own to work with Behr: Julie Gardner. Also being brought on was former producer of the show from 1990-1997, Stephen Garwood. This echoed the idea done in Season 18 (1980) when Barry Letts overlooked John Nathan-Turner in his first season as producer. The creative partnership from those three, including Davies and Redston work, and they helped to give the show a very different feel. New producer, same story, new feel Rather unusually, Redston wanted his view on the show to continue on from the Sanderman era by continuing plot threads and character arcs into this series. The main advantage was that it helped further develop the Bellonsion storyline that began in Season 39. This also impacted the character of the Doctor himself as his more recent companion, Sandra Armstrong, was a Bellonsion but was killed off at the end of the movie as he lead her to her death following his first appointment as Lord President. Something is missing for a reason Arguably one of the biggest changes in the show's history was that there was no central companion as we now follow a main cast on Gallifrey. Another disappearance from the show's beginning was the TARDIS, which wouldn't appear at all due to the Keeper locking it in a warehouse out of the Doctor's reach. The main story of the season was the conflict between them and their main enemy, the Poplne which also involves the Time Lords. The main settings in this season was mainly the Panopticon, and the Doctor's office. Cast Regular * The Doctor - Anthony Head * The Rogue - Derek Jacobi * The Keeper - Don Warrington * The Rani - Kate O'Mara * Leela - Louise Jameson * Francs - John Paton Recurring *Voice of K-9 - John Leeson *Francis - Christopher Biggins *The Prophet - Michael Gambon *Father Billard - William Bleach *Fen Do'nel - Tucker Smallwood *Duo Famsar - Alexander Balie *Duo Deathtrick - Alan Dale *T'var - James Stern *Gral - David Prell *Dasyt'op - Fredrick Boulevard *Fell - Harris Gibson *Time Lord #1 - Patrick Alexander *Time Lord #2 - Graham Samuels *Duo Dram - Quinn Lawrence *Duo Herl - Craig Wasson *Admiral Samuels - Barry Sonya *Sub-Commander Arkque - Jillian Bach *Fen Gearla - Otto Rem *Lh. Achti - Wendy Simmons Guest *Metatraxi Commander - John Banks *Voice of Alpha Centauri - Ysanne Churchman *Voice of The Cybermen - Nicholas Briggs *The Rani - Siobhan Redmond Television Stories Reception Initially, this season divided the fanbase. While some fans were very glad for a change from Sanderman formula and lauded the story, others didn't find the idea of The Doctor locked on Gallifrey entertaining or suitable and were unhappy about removing serializing in favour of one continous narrative. Making Doctor Who political thriller is one of the moves heavily debated to this day. Another is choosing Gallifrey as a main setting, as many fans think it demystified the race of the Time Lords, making them less meaningful in the grand scale. Other fans however are fine with that, claiming that Time Lords aren't as powerful as big-headed and Redston's portrayal pays them enough respect. Later, the season was remembered as "good, but the weakest of Gallifrey arc". While all the performances and the character of the Eleventh Doctor itself are all praised, the story is criticized for being very "black & white" and for all "evil" factions teaming up at the end. Other popular criticisms include underdevelopment of Francs and Rogue's character transition being too sudden. Most of those issues were resolved by Season 42, which made them more notable for the audience rewatching Season 41. Respective episodes are rarely reviewed separately, since they are part of one ongoing story. The exceptions are Lord President of Gallifrey (praised for being great opening to a story), Forgotten in Time and Trust is a Lie. The latter is a fan favourite, as it tries to add some grey into the main conflict and influences the views of The Doctor. Forgotten in Time gets mixed reviews, because fans have different takes on Rogue's evolution and the treatment of Poplne in this story. It is also a subject of discussion if this series works as a starting for new viewers. The continuity bonds with Season 39 and 2003 Movie are strong, and many things about the characters with longer story than Season 41 (especially The Rogue and The Cybermen) are treated as obvious. It is sure this season attracted many new viewers, as Lord President of Gallifrey noticed the massive viewing increase compared to late Season 39 and season 40. However, by the time The Order of Rassilon aired the figures dropped significantly, probably due to some of the old audience being unhappy with format change and some of the new being scared off (possibly by continuity). The ratings continued to drop slowly throughout the season until The Enemy Uncovered, where they slightly went up. The Battle of the Strong also noticed a rise, getting the figures similar to War of The Poplne. BBC was said to be satisfied by those scores. Home Media DVD *This season released as the Complete Season 41 Box Set in October 2004. *The season, along with all other Eleventh Doctor stories was included in The Complete Anthony Head Era Box Set. Category:Doctor Who seasons